Multilingualism in Dubbing: Examining Spanish instances in English and Finnish versions of animated films Coco and Encanto
Mikkonen, Pinja (2023)
2023
Monikielisen viestinnän ja käännöstieteen maisteriohjelma - Master's Programme in Multilingual Communication and Translation Studies
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-05-10
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202304204012
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202304204012
Tiivistelmä
Multilingualism is a growing phenomenon in our globalized society, and it is also increasingly evident in entertainment. The exponential growth in multilingual content also brings its own challenges into the field of translation. This study examines the multilingualism of two children's films set in similar cultural contexts and how multilingualism has been addressed in their dubbed versions. My data consists of two animated films, Coco (2017) and Encanto (2021), and I examine both the original English versions of the films as well as their dubbed Finnish versions. My aim is to find out whether the multilingual source dialogue has been changed in the dubbed versions and what might have caused these changes. My research questions are: (1) Are there differences in the number and composition of Spanish utterances and words used in the English and the Finnish versions of animated films Coco and Encanto? (2) Do the two films differ from each other in terms of multilingualism?
I used Pedersen's categorisation (2011) to analyse the translation strategies found in my data: retention, direct translation, using an official equivalent, substitution, specification, generalisation and omission. I also used the inductive approach (Thomas 2006) to group Spanish occurrences into categories: (1) family vocabulary and nicknames, (2) plot-relevant concepts, (3) greetings and exclamations, (4) other Spanish vocabulary, and (5) song lyrics.
There were more changes in the Spanish expressions of the Finnish dub of Coco than in Encanto. Of the 325 Spanish instances in the original version of Coco, 231 had been left unchanged, while 94 of the 97 expressions in Encanto had been transferred without changes to the Finnish dub. For both films, the most common reason for the modifications was to ensure understanding. In the case of Coco, the Spanish instances had also been modified more due to their greater number. Coco also contained Spanish expressions that had been added to the Finnish dub but that were not present in the original version. Therefore, this aspect should be added to Pedersen's (2011) model for analysing translation strategies when examining multilingual data.
I used Pedersen's categorisation (2011) to analyse the translation strategies found in my data: retention, direct translation, using an official equivalent, substitution, specification, generalisation and omission. I also used the inductive approach (Thomas 2006) to group Spanish occurrences into categories: (1) family vocabulary and nicknames, (2) plot-relevant concepts, (3) greetings and exclamations, (4) other Spanish vocabulary, and (5) song lyrics.
There were more changes in the Spanish expressions of the Finnish dub of Coco than in Encanto. Of the 325 Spanish instances in the original version of Coco, 231 had been left unchanged, while 94 of the 97 expressions in Encanto had been transferred without changes to the Finnish dub. For both films, the most common reason for the modifications was to ensure understanding. In the case of Coco, the Spanish instances had also been modified more due to their greater number. Coco also contained Spanish expressions that had been added to the Finnish dub but that were not present in the original version. Therefore, this aspect should be added to Pedersen's (2011) model for analysing translation strategies when examining multilingual data.